Heiligtum
by Chinadolly22
Summary: Wellington Wells has seen many sides to itself and many of its residences only have one thanks to the aid of JOY. With the fall and decline of WW the residence are forced off their JOY to the reality of starvation and extinction. Follow in the shoes of two Wellies (Val and Louis Webb) striving to pick up the pieces and bring life back into their villages before it's too late...


Prologue

Joy. A three-letter word that means the world to the limited society of Wellington Wells. It grows from the Latin term Gandía or Glade. Filled with delight or supplied with great emotion. It's one of the early emotions that everyone knows when being a baby. It's then peppered throughout our lives as little indicators of fulfillment to contribute to our lives into perfect bloom. A capsule if you will.

That's just what JOY is, or rather was for the matter as Valentina looked down into the dusty and empty crystal bowl. It normally bore the welcoming and blooming pink pills. Today however as she sought for the familiarity of the medical aid she would not find comfort. There was little to anticipate however being as quickly as she set the dish upon the table realization of calm came over her. All the Wellette needed was a mood booth and all would clear up and send the clouds that overshadowed in on her away. Turning at once so not to disturb the neighbors of her sinking condition, she went down the narrow corridor of now blinking yellows and beiges to the exit. They were taking to an almost life-like action a normal sense of the dosage, but the blink of peeling wallpaper stood out shaking her. Reaching for the doorknob, it bested the brunette with its own opening and within the cherry red threshold stood another accent of white before the maiden.

White as new-fallen snow and a stern admonition of the play of influence at hand, the uniform lurched Valentina from ease into trepidation. Mind at once reeling with pardons to her absent actions before the law enforcement closed the door behind him and bolted it roughly. Though the edges of his lip tugged into the trademark grin, luminous blue eyes told another tale and she moved to place a gloved hand on his arm.

"Louis?" It was much quieter than she expected, but he was never a man of fear. Or refused to produce such a side to her no matter what he experienced. Action was his essential drive and with their new home in the Parade District others looked up to him greatly for direction. It would be a stretch if Val said she wasn't just a little vexed with being displaced, after all her garden now stood replanted but she gave up so many friends behind in St. George. No sum of JOY could force her to forget them and the market she had there. Still, it was a wife's job to hold up on the values of her husband's dreams and she could not scorn him for them when she held her own.

It took a minute for her husband to address the matter that his wife had uttered his name, for he continued locking down the house first. Quick and heavy strides took to every corner of their three-story home and solely when he was content with the lockdown did he return to her ushering her at once away from any windows. Pulling her close to his body his gloved fist came down hard on the button to close the metal shutters that locked them in. Valentina was at once plunged into the darkness of her own home.

Drawing in a breath the small housewife we met with the scent of cologne and sweat of her husband, the only 'dirt' that would tarnish his new uniform. Turning her head up in search of his eyes, she saw that he would not pull them away from the dark hallway to the front door. It was like an uninvited guest in what was usually their quaint little British home. She feared to not take her own hues off of it lest it reach out and pull them both into its underbelly. Still, there was no answer to her previous calling and as she parted her painted lips to say his name again the sound of heavy crashing against metal slats interrupted the quiet space.

Something wanted into their home and from the sounds of it were several somethings or someones. Valentina's grip tightened around her husband's waist as she held her breath, worried that even the smallest exhale would allow them entry. She didn't need an answer from Louis, shadows were all cast aside as the snapping yell of his electric truncheon clicked on. It threw the darkroom into a state of a small thunderstorm and cast the couple into a sea of blues and blacks to accent their overly white forms.

"L-Louis what's happening?" The words were shaky, but the housewife got them out "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be so scared….. I wasn't able to take my JOY… If I could only get to -"

"There is no more JOY Val. The city is dry." Louis haunting blue orbs never left the still rattling front door only when the shutters of kitchen rattled did he stir himself.

"I don't understand," Or rather, she didn't understand how the island could go from producing thousands of little pink pills to nothing at all", Couldn't we just have a nice spot of tea?"

"Taps are dry…. the whole island is in a state of madness from withdrawal. I need you to keep your head about you as you come down Val." The housewife focused on the words of her husband, making sure she wasn't just having an added symptom of her crush.

"What's happening….."Though she knew very well that not only she but the people pounding on her shutters were going Downer from the lack of medication.

"We've come to the end of our time."


End file.
